WHAT A DEAL: The good news is...

By Jerry Hicks, John O’Dell and Robert W. Stewart

Nov. 12, 1991 12 AM PT

WHAT A DEAL: The good news is that resale homes in Orange County are the most affordable they’ve been in the past four years. During the third quarter, 23% of the county’s households made at least $73,738 a year--the minimum necessary to qualify for a conventional mortgage on a median-priced, $240,280 home. The bad news: Some of those who qualified had to make a monthly payment of $1,843, or about 43% of their take-home pay. . . . Of course, little of this matters to the more than three-fourths of the households that couldn’t qualify for that median-priced home.

Housing Affordability

Percentage of households that can qualify for a conventional mortgage on a median-priced home.

U.S. (4%): 51%

California (15%): 23%

Orange County (44%): 23%

Los Angeles County (11%): 20%

Riverside/San Bernardino County (9%): 35%

Number in parentheses are percentage of increase from a year ago.

Source: California Association of Realtors